Greetings! I was recently given a used (in good condition) evaporative cooler, the rooftop kind. The house I want to install it in had an evap cooler before, but the previous occupants didn't maintain it well and the pan rusted out, so I pulled it off the roof and closed up the hole. I want to prepare this unit and install it in such a way as to make it more trouble-free and mount it to be more stable than most of the units I see (galvinezed tin angle cut and bent to fit roof pitch, screwed to cooler and through roof shingles). I'm thinking of building a framed platform with a plywood base to rest the unit on, with lips on the sides to keep the cooler in position, and of coating the pan with a treatment of some sort to repair the pinhole rust holes and prevent any further damage. Any ideas or advice would be greatly apreciated. As per the forum guidelines, I live in southeastern New Mexico, we have very low relative humidity and summer temps of over 100 degrees Farenheit, the house was built in the 1950's and the cooler is approximately 6-8 years old. Thanks in advance - Chris

 

I would repair the pin holes with epoxy, then be sure there is no more rust and coat the entire pan with epoxy or hammerite spray paint. "swamp coolers" need to be cleaned an serviced every 6-12 months to keep them in good condition.

 

To make it last I would build the stand out of Green wood ,of 2"X4" let gaps in the base so air can get to the bottom of the unit. On the pan if its bad I would take and get a fiberglass repair kit and just redo the whole pan inside. this way if it goes out you still have a good fiberglass pan. For new filters and other parts look up Grainger.com. They could have them to fit this cooler ED